Teen rides wave of success in PGA Tour start

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardGavin Hall, a 15-year-old from Pittsford, shows his form during a practice round Monday for this week's Turning Stone Resort Championship at Atunyote Golf Club. Hall will be attempting to become the second youngest player to ever make a cut in a PGA Tour event.

Vernon – Decisions, decisions. When you’re only 15 and gifted beyond your years, some decisions can be so difficult.

But Gavin Hall, the junior golf wunderkind from the Rochester suburb of Pittsford, didn’t have that problem recently when the two-time winner of the New York State Boys Amateur picked up the phone and was told he’d been invited to play in the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

His choice this week: Seek a third straight state title in New York’s Junior Amateur at his home course, the Country Club of Mendon, or play in a PGA Tour event. … Hmmm. … What a no-brainer.

"It was unfortunate that I had to withdraw from the State Junior, but I think I had a pretty good excuse – playing in a PGA Tour event," he said, laughing Monday after playing a front-nine practice round at Turning Stone’s resplendent Atunyote Golf Club. "It would have been nice to contend there, but it’s pretty awesome to be out here."

Hall enters the tournament on a four-week roll that would make any golfer proud:

*** He set an all-time tournament scoring record in the U.S. Junior Amateur with a preposterous 10-under-par 62 and then advanced to the match-play quarterfinals where he lost to the eventual champion by one hole.

*** He galloped away from the Rochester amateur district’s most elite field in winning the John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial Championship for the second straight year – this time by a whopping 18 strokes at Oak Hill’s West Course. He finished 13 strokes under par, while the second place finisher in the mostly adult field was 5-over.

*** He qualified for the U.S. Amateur with a medalist round at Crag Burn Golf Club in Amherst and will play in the national tournament later this month in University Park, Wash.

*** And he finished tied for runner-up last week in the prestigious Porter Cup, an event at Niagara Falls Country Club that annually attracts the nation’s best college players. He lost to Stanford’s David Chung, one of the highest ranked amateurs in the world.

Again, it must be emphasized that Hall is only 15 years old. And while an invitation to play in a PGA Tour event would be enough to make another player’s head swell, Hall was simply awestruck and excited.

"It just blew me away," he said of the call. "I’m really not one to ask for anything. I didn’t apply for this and I had no idea that they were going to ask me. This is going to be something special this week."

Turning Stone teaching pro Marty Nowicki, who helped lobby to give Hall a sponsor’s exemption, said it could be more special than the youngster realizes.

"He’s just a world-class talent and one of those kids where the sky’s the limit," Nowicki said after walking nine holes with Hall and marveling at how simple he made the game look. "He knows how to control his ball. He takes aim at where he wants to hit it and then just hits it right there. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him do very well this week."

Despite being a whippy 5-foot-9, 135 pounds, Hall routinely drills drives 300- to 330-yard and repeatedly snaps off sniper-accurate iron shots. During Monday’s practice session, he hit three tee shots on the 198-yard third hole and nearly holed the second two. On the 550-yard fifth hole, he reached the green with a driver and long iron. During a skins game at Atunyote last year, Tiger Woods needed a fairway wood to get home in two.

Hall said his progression in the game has been steady the past four years, though others may view it as growing by leaps and bounds. At 11 he was shooting in the high 70s and low 80s and at 12 he was a par-shooter who won the CC of Mendon’s club championship. "At 13 it really started to come together," he said, as he frequently dipped into the 60s. Now, his game is so sharp that he is turning the heads of major college coaches, who are prevented by NCAA rules from talking to him for another year. Clemson coach Larry Penley was on the grounds Monday watching along the ropes.

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardGavin Hall is coming into the Turning Stone Resort Championship on a wave of success over the past four weeks, including qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, winning a Rochester district event by 18 strokes and shooting a record 62 in the U.S. Junior Amateur.

None of it might have been possible without a break that at the time seemed unfortunate. Hall suffered a stress fracture in his right foot at age 11 while playing basketball. Then he broke it again. And again. Finally, doctors told the active youth that he had to give up playing basketball, baseball and soccer to give the bone – which by this time had a hole in it – time to heal.

The restrictions, however, didn’t include walking, said Gavin’s father, Bob Hall, "so he started playing golf."

And he did so with gusto, polishing a swing that first saw a driving range at age 2 and turning it into a birdie-making machine.

"I worked so hard in the summers, springs and falls," Gavin Hall said. "I did nothing but work on my game and put in the hours. I think that has contributed to all the success I’ve had. But, yeah, it might not have happened without breaking my foot. I think things happen for a reason. I couldn’t do much else, so I got hooked on golf."

Hall has since received a bonus from his situation: an incredible golf game and a good foot. The bone completely healed and he was able to avoid surgery that would have involved grafting bone from his ankle and inserting it into his foot. He has resumed playing basketball, and last year was good enough to be called up to Pittsford-Mendon’s varsity team as a freshman.

Now, his only concerns are how low he can go on the golf course and high long he can make his hot streak last.

"I just want to keep the ride going," he said of his four-week golf bonanza. "My confidence is up there and I feel like my game’s there and I’m ready to show it."

Youngest on Tour
Gavin Hall (DOB Sept. 3, 1994) is 15 years, 11 months old, meaning that if he makes the cut in this week’s Turning Stone Resort Championship, he would be the second youngest player in PGA Tour history to accomplish that feat. Here’s a look at other youthful feats on the PGA Tour: